RV auto insurance information you cannot afford to miss

By Hayden KruegerPublished: Friday, February 26th, 2010

RV stands for recreational vehicles. For the uninitiated, they are homes on wheels for a lot of people. But essentially, they are just cars with trailers. This brings us conveniently to our topic at hand.

As opposed to car insurance, RV auto insurance can get quite complicated and not to mention, expensive. This stems from the fact that RV’s are generally larger and can be regarded as more dangerous and prone to mishaps than cars. Trailers have been known to detach themselves from the car and cause damage inclusive of, but not limited to self and traffic on the road. Although RV’s are primarily used for camping trips, they are a means of transport and a suitable alternative for a large number of people who are constantly travelling and on the move all the time. As mentioned above, dangers arise constantly in RV’s and owners need to be extremely cautious and foresee dangers arising out of the trailer’s inherently unstable nature owing largely to its bulky nature.

Getting to the RV auto insurance in particular, complications arise mostly because of the seasonal nature of its usage. More often than not, RV’s tend to be used sparingly and on occasions such as holidays, camping trips, moving etc. To account for this kind of usage, the insurance needs to take into account the period and frequency of this application.

The insurance must give the owner the option to choose when, and how much of coverage he requires for his vehicle. This is a tall order for insurance providers as they now face the prospect of providing two kinds of insurance. Firstly, they need to cover the vehicle against robbery, natural disasters and other kinds of unexpected mishaps which the vehicle might and quite possibly will be subjected to considering the fact that it is unused for most part of the year. Secondly, for the period that the owner does decide to use its services, the insurance provider must cover it against accidents and damage not only to the owner but more often than not, others.

But the story of the RV auto insurance doesn’t end there. The plot thickens as we get to the aspect of license for the RV and how that affects the insurance. The possession of a trailer involves a special license for the trailer itself in addition to the existing one for the car it is attached to. The onus here is not on acquiring the license which is in fact a necessity for insurance but also on its renewal as and when required. Without a valid and current trailer license, the insurance becomes void and this needs to be kept in mind while purchasing and maintaining an RV.

In addition to the factors stated above, long distance, cross country travel and size of the trailers play an important role in shaping the right insurance for the RV. For very large trailers, the license transforms to a truck license which is more expensive. This, in turn, pushes the rate of insurance up too as the associated peril is higher.
For out of country travel, RV owners can opt for a special travel insurance as not all insurance companies provide this kind of coverage.

As you might have observed, RV rental is quite a big business nowadays. This opens up new avenues for auto insurance on your own car. Although rental companies try to get customers to buy insurance on the trailer, and although this might seem like a attractive prospect, you always have an option to use your car insurance for the same. But for the above statement to hold true, the car insurance must include trailer coverage too. This is usually an option in car insurances and cost extra but seems like a sensible idea for anyone who rents trailers on a regular basis as this could save you a lot of money on the rental.